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was Darius himself exempted from the common danger. He owed his preservation to a camel, which was loaded with water, and followed him with great difficulty through that wild and desert country. The king did not af terwards forget this benefactor. To reward him for the service he had done him, and the fatigues he had undergone, on his return into Asia, he settled a certain district of his own upon him for his peculiar use and subsistence; for which reason the place was called Gaugamele, that is, in the Persian tongue, "the Camel's Habitation."* It was near this same place that Darius Codomanus received a second overthrow by Alexander the Great.

Darius deliberated no longer, finding himself under an absolute necessity of quitting his imprudent enterprise. He began then to think in earnest upon returning home; and saw but too plainly that there was no time to be lost. Therefore, as soon as night came, the Persians, to deceive the enemy, lighted a great number of fires as usual; and leaving the old men and the sick behind them in the camp, together with all their asses, which made a sufficient noise, they marched with all possible haste, in order to reach the Danube. The Scythians did not perceive they were gone till the next morning; where upon they immediately sent a considerable detachment, as quick as possible, to the Danube: this detachment, being perfectly well acquainted with the roads of the country, arrived at the bridge a considerable time before the Persians. The Scythians had sent expresses before hand to persuade the Ionians to break the bridge, and to return to their own country; and the latter had promised to do it, but without intending to execute their promise. The Scythians now pressed them to it the more earnestly, and represented to them, that the time prescribed by Darius for staying there was elapsed; that they were at liberty to return home, without either violating their word or their duty; that they now had it in their power to throw off for ever the yoke of their subjection, and make themselves a happy and free people; and that the Scythians would render Darius incapable of forming any more enterprises against his neighbours. The Ionians entered into consultation upon the affair. Miltiades, an Athenian, who was prince, or, as the Greeks call it, tyrant, of Chersonesus of Thrace at the mouth of the Hellespont, was one of those that had accompanied Darius, and furnished him with ships for his enterprise. Having the public interest more at heart than his own private advantage,‡ he was of opinion that they should comply with the request of the Scythians, and embrace so favourable an opportunity of recovering the liberty of Ionia. All the other commanders yielded to his sentiments, except Hystiæus, the tyrant of Miletus. When it came to his turn to speak, he represented to the Ionian generals, that their fortune was linked with that of Darius; that it was under that prince s protection each of them was master in his own city; and if the power of the Persians should sink or decline, the cities of Ionia would not fail to depose their tyrants, and recover their freedom. All the other chiefs embraced his opinion; and, as is usual in most cases, the consideration of private interest prevailed over the public good. They, therefore, came to the resolution of waiting for Darius: but, in order to deceive the Scythians, and hinder them from undertaking any thing, they declared that they had resolved to retire, pursuant to their request, and the better to carry on the fraud, they actually began to break one end of the bridge, exhorting the Scythians at the same time to do their part, to return speedily back to meet the common enemy, to attack and defeat them. The Scythians, being too credulous, retired, and were deceived a second time.

They missed Darius, who had taken a different route from that in which they expected to come up with him. He arrived by night at the bridge over the Danube, and finding it broken down, he no longer doubted but the lonians were gone, and consequently he should be ruined. He made his people call

* Strab. 1. vii. p. 305, et l. xvi. p. 737.
† Herod. 1. iv. c. 134, 140.
Amicior omnium libertati quam suæ dominationi fuit.-Corn. Nep
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out with a loud voice for Hystiæus, the Milesian, who at last answered and relieved the king from his anxiety. They entirely repaired the bridge; so that Darius repassed the Danube, and came back into Thrace. There he left Megabyzus, one of his chief generals, with part of his army, to complete the conquest of that country, and entirely reduce it to his obedience. After which he repassed the Bosphorus with the rest of his troops, and went to Sardis, where he spent the winter and the greatest part of the following year, in order to refresh his army, which had suffered extremely in that ill-concerted and unfortunate expedition.*

Megabyzus continued some time in Thrace, whose inhabitants, according to Herodotus, would have been invincible, had they used the discretion to unite their forces, and to choose one chief commander. Some of them had very particular customs. In one of their districts, when a child came into the world, all the relations expressed great sorrow and affliction, bitterly weeping at the prospect of misery the new-born infant had to experience: and, when any person died, all their kindred rejoiced, because they looked upon the deceased person as happy only from that moment, wherein he was delivered for ever from the troubles and calamities of this life. In another district, where polygamy was in fashion, when a husband died, it was a great dispute among his wives, which of them was the best beloved. She in whose favour the contest was decided, had the privilege of being sacrificed by her nearest relation upon the tomb of her husband, and of being buried with him; while all the other wives envied her happiness, and thought themselves in some sort dishonoured. Darius, on his return to Sardis after his unhappy expedition against the Scythians, having learned to a certainty that he owed both his own safety and that of his whole army to Hystiæus, who had persuaded the Ionians not to destroy the bridge on the Danube, sent for that prince to his court, and desired him freely to ask any favour, in recompence of his service. Hystiæus hereupon desired the king to give him Marcina of Edonia, a territory upon the river Strymon in Thrace, together with the liberty of building a city there. His request was readily granted: whereupon he returned to Miletus, where he caused a fleet of ships to be equipped, and then set out for Thrace. Having taken possession of the territory granted him, he immediately set about the execution of his project for building a city.

Megabyzus, who was then governor of Thrace for Darius, immediately perceived how prejudicial that undertaking would be to the king's affairs in those quarters. He considered, that this new city stood upon a navigable river: that the country round it abounded in timber fit for the building of ships; that it was inhabited by different nations, both Greeks and barbarians, that might furnish great numbers of men for land and sea service; that if once those people were under the management of a prince so skilful and enterprising as Hystiæus, they might become so powerful both by sea and land, that it would be no longer possible for the king to keep them in subjection; especially considering, that they had a great many gold and silver mines in that country, which would enable them to carry on any projects or enterprises. At his return to Sardis, he represented all these things to the king, who was convinced by his reasons, and therefore sent for Hystiæus to come to him at Sardis, pretending to have some great designs in view, wherein he wanted the assistance of his counsel. When he had brought him to his court by this means, he carried him to Susa, making him believe, that he set an extraordinary value upon a friend of his fidelity and understanding: two qualifications that rendered him so very dear to him, and of which he had given such memorable proofs in the Scythian expedition; and giving him to understand at the same time, that he should be able to find something for him in Persia, which would make him ample amends for all that he could leave behind him. Hystiæus, pleased

with so honourable a distinction, and finding himself likewise under a neces

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Herod. l. iv. c. 141, 144.

† Herod. l. v. c. 1.

Idem, . 11, 23.

Idem, c. 23, 25

vity of complying, accompanied Darius to Susa, and left Aristagoras to govern at Miletus in his stead.

While Megabyzus was still in Thrace, he sent several Persian noblemen to Amyntas, king of Macedonia, to require him to give earth and water to Darius his master: this was the usual form of one prince's submitting to another: Amyntas readily complied with that request, and paid all imaginable honour to the envoys. Towards the conclusion of an entertainment which he made for them, they desired that the ladies might be brought in, which was a thing contrary to the custom of the country: the king however, would not venture to refuse them. The Persian noblemen being heated with wine, and thinking they might use the same freedom as in their own country, did not observe a due decorum towards those princesses. The king's son, whose name was Alexander, could not see his mother and sister treated in such a manner, without great resentment and indignation. Wherefore, upon some pretence or other, he contrived to send the ladies out of the room, as if they were to return again presently and had the precaution to get the king, his father, also out of the company. In this interval he caused some young men to be dressed like women, and to be armed with poignards under their garments. These pretended ladies came into the room instead of the others; and when the Persians began to treat them as they had before treated the princesses, they drew out their poignards, fell violently upon them, and killed, not only the noblemen, but every one of their attendants. The news of this slaughter soon reached Susa; and the king appointed commissioners to take cognizance of the matter; but Alexander, by the power of bribes and presents, stifled the affair, so that it came to nothing.*

The Scythians, to be revenged of Darius for invading their country, passed the Danube, and ravaged all that part of Thrace that had submitted to the Persians, as far as the Hellespont. Miltiades, to avoid their fury, abandoned the Chersonesus: but after the enemy retired, he returned thither, and was restored to the same power he had before over the inhabitants of the country.t

SECTION V. DARIUS'S CONQUEST OF INDIA

ABOUT the same time, which was in the thirteenth year of Darius's reign, this prince, ambitious of extending his dominion eastwards, first resolved, in order to facilitate his conquests, to get a proper knowledge of the country. To this end, he caused a fleet to be built and fitted out at Caspatyra, a city upon the Indus, and did the same at several other places on the same river, as far as the frontiers of Asiatic Scythia.§ The command of this fleet was given to Scylax, a Grecian of Caryandia, a town of Caria, who was perfectly well versed in maritime affairs. His orders were, to sail down that river, and get all the knowledge he possibly could of the country on both sides, quite down to the mouth of the river; to pass from thence into the southern ocean, and to steer his course afterwards to the west, and return that way to Persia. Scylax, having exactly observed his instructions, and sailed quite down the river Indus, entered the Red Sea by the strait of Babelmandel; and after a voyage of thirty ronths from the time of his setting out from Caspatyra, he arrived in Egypt at the same port from whence Nechao, king of Egypt, had formerly sent to the Phoenicians, who were in his service, with orders sail round the coast of Africa. T Very probably this was the same port where now stands the town of Suez, at the farther end of the Red Sea. From thence Scylax returned to Susa, where he gave Darius an account of all his discoveries. Darius afterwards entered India with an army, and subjected all that vast

*Herod. l. v. c. 17. 21.

Herod. 1. vi. c. 40.
Herod. I. iv. c. 44.

A. M. 3496. Ant. J. . 508. There is a treatise of geography entitled Tegfrλes, and composed by one Scylax of Caryandia, who Is thought to be the same person spoken of in this place. But that opinion is attended with some diff culties, which have given occasion to many learned dissertations.

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Herod. l. iv. c. 42.

country. The reader will naturally expect to be informed of the particulars of so important a war. But Herodotus* does not say one word about it: he only tells us, that India made the twentieth province, or government, of the Persian empire, and that the annual revenue of it was worth three hundred and sixty talents of gold to Darius, which amount to near eleven millions of livres of French money, something less than five hundred thousand pounds sterling, or more than two millions of dollars.

SECTION VI. THE REVOLT OF THE IONIANS.

DARIUS, after his return to Susa from the Scythian expedition had given his brother Artaphernes the government of Sardis, and made Otanes commander in Thrace, and the adjacent countries along the sea-coast, in the room of Megabyzus.t

From a small spark, kindled by a sedition at Naxus, arose a great flame, which gave occasion to a considerable war. Naxus was the most important island of the Cyclades in the Egean Sea, now called the Archipelago. In this sedition the principal inhabitants having been overpowered by the populace, who were the greater number, many of the richest families were banished out of the island. Hereupon they fled to Miletus, and addressed themselves to Aristagoras, imploring him to reinstate them in their own city. He was at that time governor of that city, as lieutenant to Hystiæus, to whom he was both nephew and son-in-law, and whom Darius had carried along with him to Susa. Aristagoras promised to give these exiles the assistance they desired.‡

But not being powerful enough himself to execute what he had promised, he went to Sardis, and communicated the affair to Artaphernes. He represented to him, that this was a very favourable opportunity for reducing Naxus under the power of Darius; that if he was once master of that island, all the rest of the Cyclades would fall of themselves into his hands, one after another; that in consequence, the isle of Euboea, now Negropont, which was as large as Cyprus, and lay very near it, would be easily conquered, which would give the king a free passage into Greece, and the means of subjecting all that country; and, in short, that a hundred ships would be sufficient for the effectual execution of this enterprise. Artaphernes was so pleased with the project, that, instead of one hundred vessels, which Aristagoras required, he mised him two hundred, in case he obtained the king's consent to the expedition. The king, charmed with the mighty hopes with which he was flattered, very readily approved the enterprise, though it was founded only on injustice, and a boundless ambition; as also in perfidiousness on the part of Aristagoras and Artaphernes. No consideration gave him a moment's pause. The most injurious project is formed and accepted without the least reluctance or scruple motives of advantage and convenience solely determine. The isle lay convenient for the Persians: this was conceived a sufficient title, and a warrantable ground to reduce it by force of arms. And, indeed, most of the other expeditions of this prince had no better principle.

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As soon as Artaphernes had obtained the king's consent to this project, he made the necessary preparations for executing it. The better to conceal his design, and to surprise the people of Naxus, he spread a report that his fleet was going towards the Hellespont; and the spring following he sent the number of ships he had promised to Miletus, under the command of Megabates, a Persian nobleman of the royal family of Achæmenes. But being directed in his commission to obey the orders of Aristagoras, that haughty Persian could not bear to be under the command of an Ionian, especially one who treated him in a lofty and imperious manner. This pique occasioned a breach between the two generals, which rose so high, that Megabates, to be revenged of Aristagoras gave the Naxians secret intelligence of the design formed against

Lib. iii. c. 94.

↑ A. M. 3500. Ant. J. C. 504. Herod. l. v. c. 25.

Idem, c. 28, 34

them. Upon which intelligence they made such preparations for their defence, that the Persians, after having spent four months in besieging the capital of the island, and consumed all their provisions, were obliged to retire.

This project having thus miscarried, Megabates threw all the blame upon Aristagoras, and entirely ruined his credit with Artaphernes. The Ionians foresaw, that this accident would be attended, not only with the loss of his government, but with his utter ruin. The desperate situation he was in made him think of revolting from the king, as the only expedient whereby he could possibly save himself. No sooner had he formed this design, than a messenger came to him from Hystiæus, who gave him the same counsel. Hystiæus, who had now been some years at the Persian court, being disgusted with the manners of that nation, and having an ardent desire to return to his own country, thought this the most likely means of bringing it about, and therefore gave Aristagoras that counsel. He flattered himself, that in case any troubles arose in Ionia, he could prevail with Darius to send him thither to appease them; and, in fact, the thing happened according to his expectation. As soon as Aris tagoras found his design seconded by the orders of Hystiæus, he imparted them to the principal persons of Ionia, whom he found extremely well disposed to enter into his views. He therefore deliberated no longer, but being determined to revolt, applied himself wholly to making preparations for it.*

The people of Tyre, having been reduced to slavery when their city was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, had groaned under that oppression for the space of seventy years. But after the expiration of that term, they were restored, according to Isaiah's prophecy, to the possession of their ancient privileges, with the liberty of having a king of their own; which liberty they enjoyed till the time of Alexander the Great. It seems probable, that this favour was granted them by Darius, in consideration of the service he expected to receive from that city, (which was so powerful by sea,) in reducing the Ionians to their ancient subjection. This was in the nineteenth year of Darius's reign. The next year, Aristagoras, in order to engage the Ionians to adhere the more closely to him, reinstated them in their liberty, and in all their former privileges. He began with Miletus, where he divested himself of his power, and resigned it into the hands of the people. He then made a journey through all Ionia, where, by his example, his influence and perhaps by the fear that they would be forced to it whether they would or not, he prevailed upon all the other tyrants to do the same in every city. They complied the more readily with it, as the Persian power, since the check it received in Scythia, was the less able to protect them against the Ionians, who were naturally fond of liberty and a state of independence, and professed enemies to all tyranny. Having united them all in this manner in one common league, of which he himself was declared the head, he set up the standard of rebellion against the king, and made great preparations by sea and land for supporting a war against him.§

To enable himself to carry on the war with more vigour, Aristagoras went, in the beginning of the year following, to Lacedæmon, in order to bring that city into his interests, and engage it to furnish him with succours. Cleomenes was at this time king of Sparta. He was the son of Anaxandrides by a second wife, whom the Ephori had obliged him to marry, because he had no issue by the first. He had by her three sons besides Cleomeres, namely, Doraus, Leonidas, and Cleombrotus, the two last of whom ascended the throne of Lacedæmon in their turns. Aristagoras then addressed himself to Cleomenes; and the time and place for an interview between them being agreed to, he waited upon him, and represented to him, that the Ionians and Lacedæmonians were countrymen; that Sparta being the most powerful city of Greece, it

*Herod. 1. v. c. 35, 36.

"And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the Lord will visit Tyre, and sha shall turn to her hire," Isa. xxiii. 17. Herod. 1. v. c. 37, 38.

A. M. 8502. Aut J. C. 502.

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